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Heart of the Ghost -- wow!


Larry Kart

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Caught this Baltimore-based band, Heart of the Ghost, last night at Constellation in Chicago. I knew Gilgore, in his mid 20s, from several years ago with Jamie Branch. Impressive then, he's grown by leaps and bounds, and this band is superb. Gilgore, while he's his own man, might be described as a cross between Jimmy Lyons and Ayler (he's that powerful); Stewart is a rock solid, very deep-toned bassist, and McColm is on everything. A set of three parts, about 30 minutes each, lots of variety of mood -- intensity almost beyond belief and a consistent air of joy and freshness. As John Litweiler once said, I haven't been so much fun since the pigs ate my little brother.
 
BTW, I wouldn't, as the writer below does, call Gilgore "skronked-out." There's an underlying, even over-riding, purity to his sound even when things get fragmented and "talky."
 

Jarrett Gilgore - alto saxophone
Luke Stewart - bass
Ian McColm - percussion

“For the past two years, few improvisation units have been as omnipresent in the D.C. area as Heart of the Ghost. For good reason: The trio of alto saxophonist Jarrett Gilgore, bassist Luke Stewart, and percussionist Ian McColm is something of a trinity of the finest free jazz improvisers in the region. If you’ve seen Heart of the Ghost in concert, then you know—Gilgore, Stewart, and McColm’s performances feel like a kind of séance, with the trio locked into a musical conversation with one another.

Though Gilgore’s skronked-out sax wailings anchor the tracks, no one part is greater than the sum of the whole. McColm’s inventive percussion techniques feel like a rhythm from another world, and Stewart—easily one of the most prolific and talented bassists in the region, if not the entire country—takes his instrument to new dimensions.” —Matt Cohen/Washington Citypaper

“…But free music is about right now, wherever you are at, anyplace that the right players get together and play. If you have a chance to hear Washington, D.C. trio Heart of the Ghost, rest assured that you’ve found another portal into the creative vortex that spontaneously lifts hearts, minds and bands off the stand. Their freewheeling improvisations tap into the same defiant spirit decanted by Mingus and the Minutemen, which is to say that the freedom is in the playing, but it’s also a conscious reaction to the ways in which people are not free. You can hear protest in alto saxophonist Jarrett Gilgore’s brays and peppery interjections. You can hear mourning and defiant creation in bassist Luke Stewart’s continually shifting frameworks of woody-toned dark motion. And you can hear the moment-to-moment dance necessary to keep it moving or just keep standing in drummer Ian McColm’s shifting tonal surfaces and rhythmic cascades.” —Bill Meyer/Dusted
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Thanks, Larry - I’ll be looking out for Gilgore and this trio

As an aside, I’ll be seeing the great Chicagoan saxophonist Dave Rempis on next Tuesday 4/23 with Brandon Lopez on double bass and another Chicago musician (one I’ve never heard of - Ryan Packard on drums) for a show at a new performance space started by Eric Stern - 244 Rehearsal Studios - 244 West 54th Street, 10th Floor.

I’m a big fan of Rempis but I’ve only seen him once live (a short set a couple of years back - Lopez was also in that group and he’s a very exciting young bassist) so here’s hoping we are in for a show somewhere near what you just experienced.

Although some are not so excited about high energy Saxophone trios, quartets, etc. led by kick ass freely improvising saxophonists, I certainly am.

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5 minutes ago, Steve Reynolds said:

Thanks, Larry - I’ll be looking out for Gilgore and this trio

As an aside, I’ll be seeing the great Chicagoan saxophonist Dave Rempis on next Tuesday 4/23 with Brandon Lopez on double bass and another Chicago musician (one I’ve never heard of - Ryan Packard on drums) for a show at a new performance space started by Eric Stern - 244 Rehearsal Studios - 244 West 54th Street, 10th Floor.

I’m a big fan of Rempis but I’ve only seen him once live (a short set a couple of years back - Lopez was also in that group and he’s a very exciting young bassist) so here’s hoping we are in for a show somewhere near what you just experienced.

Although some are not so excited about high energy Saxophone trios, quartets, etc. led by kick ass freely improvising saxophonists, I certainly am.

You'll like the group.

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6 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Rempis for sure. I haven't heard Gilgore, but want to.

I’m fired up for the show. I’m going with a young friend who’s all in right now to free jazz/improv, etc. Some of the Rempis recordings on his own label are very good and a few are more than that. The last double drummer Percussion Quartet recording (Cochonnerie) with Ingebright Haker Flaten is incredible for one example.

His playing is more than it initially appears to be. He’s more than just intensity and mind blowing technique. I’m hoping or wishing he brings his non-alto horn(s) BUT I’ll settle for just his alto saxophone playing:) 

plus looking at his newest releases, I’m sure he will have the new CD of the trio I’m seeing, plus if he has copies of the last 3-4 I havn’t bought, I’ll get them all at the show next Tuesday. 

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